Simulation analytics is the application of visualization, data management, statistics, and data mining to related collections of large datasets generated by computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulation software, especially CFD codes. As computing power continues to increase, the use of CAE analysis tools continue to grow, leading to increasingly large collections of simulation results. Encompassing the capabilities of both business analytics tools and traditional post-processors, Tecplot Chorus enables engineers to discover and tap into the wealth of information hidden within simulation datasets, providing simultaneous analysis of the detailed field data and the associated key simulation result(s) as functions of input parameters.
"Almost every engineer we talked with has told us they continue to face challenges in analyzing complex, data-rich projects, and have been eagerly anticipating the availability of a solution that provides a holistic view to their large sets of CFD data," said Mike Peery, president of Tecplot, Inc. "Tecplot Chorus is the new generation of post-processing tools for engineers. The new paradigm of post processing is to simultaneously operate on sets of simulations instead of one at a time, and to take advantage of parallel computers to pre-compute visualizations. The unprecedented level of analysis enabled by Tecplot Chorus allows engineers to make more informed decisions faster, thus enabling companies to develop better products."
In May 2011, Tecplot Chorus was introduced in beta to a select group of customers from world renowned aerospace organizations in the government and private sectors, in order to secure feedback on the product's performance. During the trial, customers reported that Tecplot Chorus greatly simplified methods for examining overall trends in metadata resulting from multiple CFD simulations, boosting productivity as much as 20 percent.
Furthermore, several beta testers indicated the use of their current analysis software does not allow the ability to assess, or even examine, all their CFD simulation cases under today's accelerated time constraints to meet product deadlines. With Tecplot Chorus, not only did the software enable testers to more easily discover trends and anomalies within their simulation datasets, it also instilled a greater sense of confidence they were not overlooking any aberrations in their simulation results. Swift Engineering CFD Analyst Andy Luo commented, "Our post processing productivity increased by an order of magnitude, thanks to Tecplot Chorus. Now I can do in five minutes what once took me four to six hours."
"With the increasing use of simulation and analysis as part of product development, engineers are conducting more and more parametric analyses during the design process. With the volumes of CFD cases or runs, visual review is not fast enough. Solutions like Tecplot Chorus can help speed and simplify their assessment," said Stan Przybylinski, Director of Research at CIMdata. Executive Consultant Ken Amann with CIMdata added, "By connecting parametric data directly with simulation data, Tecplot Chorus provides engineers with a much more complete view of their simulation and optimization results. With the ability to quickly visualize large amounts of metadata, they will better understand the causes of variations enabling them to make more informed, critical design decisions faster."
Tecplot Chorus integrates analysis and quality assurance processes with flexible features that are designed to manage, analyze and visualize large amounts of metadata, identify trends and anomalies, and link them to the underlying physics. It allows engineers to analyze data from one to thousands of simulation cases simultaneously, and incorporates an easy-to-use simulation data management system for both test and computational data. The new simulation analytics tool also promotes greater collaboration and efficiencies among teams of engineers, allowing them to archive and share large sets of simulation data to enhance teamwork and avoid duplicating work.
For industries striving for more R&D efficiency, Tecplot Chorus is designed to help engineers deliver innovative designs more quickly by speeding up the discovery and understanding of the results and underlying physics across many simulation cases by providing:
- Unified Data and Project Management - Quickly and seamlessly import data of multiple simulations results from CSV files and folder structures into a single location, and store the data in project databases.
- Analytics and Surrogate Modeling - A variety of simulation analytics tools and multi-dimensional surrogate models are available for users to open multiple plots of metadata and field data simultaneously to examine relationships between the data and the physics, and explore trends in the data and identify anomalies that require additional simulation.
- Rapid Comparative Analysis of Field Data - Tecplot Chorus allows users to rapidly compare pre-calculated XY, 2D, and 3D plots extracted across multiple CFD simulation cases in a variety of ways to assess and determine the qualitative and quantitative differences in the simulation results. The pre-calculated plots may be stored as image files or as Tecplot 360 plot files which include original field data on the computational grid.
- Batch Process Plot Creation - From within Tecplot Chorus, users can launch parallel batch jobs to create plots across all CFD cases using plot templates and import them into Tecplot Chorus as image files or Tecplot 360 plot files.
- Fast Physics Exploration and Visualization - Using the various physics visualization tools embedded within Tecplot Chorus, users can view multiple plots of a detailed flow field with a single mouse click, which may be views of body surfaces, slices through a flow field, boundary surfaces, iso-surfaces and streamlines. In addition, users can filter and compare cases, and calculate differences between solutions or sets of solutions.
Since the company's inception in 1981, Tecplot has empowered engineers and scientists to discover, analyze, and understand information in complex data and effectively communicate the results. With the launch of Tecplot Chorus, the company is taking innovation a step further by providing a quality visualization product that helps users to be more creative, efficient and productive.
Tecplot Chorus is available on 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista, and XP, 64-bit Linux platforms, and can easily interface with SQL databases stored locally or on a server. In addition, the company offers engineering consulting services to help with deployment preconditioning the metadata. Tecplot Chorus pricing starts at $7,500 per year in the U.S. for a shared (floating) annual license.
For more information about Tecplot Chorus, please visit http://www.tecplot.com/chorus. For more information about Tecplot, Inc. and all the company's products, visit http://www.tecplot.com.
About Tecplot, Inc.
Founded in 1981 and based in Bellevue, Wash., Tecplot, Inc. empowers engineers and scientists to discover, analyze, and understand information in complex data, and to effectively communicate the results to others. The company launched Tecplot, its first software product for the scientific visualization market, in 1988. Since then, Tecplot has been applying and influencing the latest advances in visualization technologies and plotting capabilities. With tens of thousands of users worldwide, Tecplot, Inc. has become a trusted name in data visualization.
For additional information, contact: Molly McWhinnie Email Contact (206) 282-4923 ext. 121
